CNN’S ANDERSON COOPER 360 IS #1 CABLE NEWS PROGRAM AT 10 PM IN MARCH; FNC’S ON THE RECORD SLIPS TO SECOND IN KEY DEMO 25-54 FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER TWO YEARS;

CNN Overtakes MSNBC in Primetime for the First Time in 14 Months;

CNN Records Triple-Digit Growth in Primetime and Total Day; while MSNBC Loses Viewers at 8 pm and FNC Loses Viewers in Primetime in vs. a Year Ago

In March, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 was the #1 cable news program at 10 pm in the key demo adults 25-54, overtaking FNC’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren for the first time in 26 months (January, 2009). For the month, AC 360 averaged 496k among adults 25-54, while FNC slipped into second place with 480k and MSNBC’s The Ed Show was a distant third with 266k. Compared to a year ago, the CNN 10 pm program had significant growth, increasing +153% in the key demo (496k vs. 196k) and +66% in total viewers (1.165m vs. 702k). During the heightened news cycle, FNC actually lost viewers at 10 pm, decreasing -13% in the demo (480k vs. 552k) and losing -16% in total viewers (1.802m vs. 2.154m) vs. a year ago.

PRIMETIME:

CNN surpassed MSNBC in M-F primetime for the first time in 14 months (January 2010), averaging 393k in the demo, a 40% advantage over MSNBC’s 280k. CNN also topped MSNBC in total viewers in M-F primetime with 1.013m vs. 992k total viewers. Compared to last year, CNN grew by triple digits in M-F prime, increasing +126% (393k vs. 174k) in the demo and +56% in total viewers (1.013k vs. 648k), while Fox News lost -11% of their demo primetime audience (629k vs. 705k) and was down -13% in total viewers (2.398m vs. 2.751m). MSNBC grew only slightly in primetime during the news-fueled month, increasing +12% in the key demo (280k vs. 250k) and just +8% in total viewers (992k vs. 921k) vs. a year ago.

CNN’s 9 pm program Piers Morgan Tonight outperformed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show in the demo (380k vs. 338k) in March, growing an impressive +118% vs.CNN programming a year ago and significantly more than Maddow’s increase of +24%, while FNC’sHannity lost -4% of his demo 25-54 audience. This represents the first time in 14 months that CNN topped Maddow. At 8 pm, In the Arena topped MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (308k vs. 246k) for the month in the demo – this is the first time that CNN has topped MSNBC at 8 pm in over three years (February, 2008). In addition, In the Arena was the only cable news network to grow vs. a year ago at 8 pm – in both the demo and total viewers, increasing +103% in the demo/+51% in total viewers, while Lawrence O’Donnell was down -7%/-9% and The O’Reilly Factor decreased -13%/-11%.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING:

At 7 pm, John King, USA easily topped MSNBC’s Hardball in both total viewers (850k vs. 722k) and in the demo 25-54 (315k vs. 207k), growing +132% in adults 25-54 and +64% in total viewers vs. a year ago. This represents JK, USA’s best month since launching a year ago among both total viewers and the demo.

CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer at 5 pm also topped MSNBC, increasing +162% in the demo (306k vs. 117k) and +80% in total viewers (972k vs. 539k) compared to last year. FNC’s Glenn Beck continues to experience declines at 5 pm – decreasing 33% in the key demo (514k vs. 763k) and losing one quarter (-25%) of his total viewer audience (2.061m vs. 2.748m) compared to March, 2010. In addition, the Situation Room at 6 pm grew +157% in the demo (332k vs. 129k) and +82% in total viewers (932k vs. 513k).

On Sundays, State of the Union with Candy Crowley at 9 am grew +105% in the key demo (287k vs. 140k) and by +48% in total viewers (711k vs. 479k), and Fareed Zakaria: GPS at 10 amincreased +103% in the demo (240k vs. 118k) and +60% in total viewers (597k vs. 372k) vs. last March.

TOTAL DAY:

In total day (6 am-6 am), CNN also had the most growth of all the cable news networks vs. a year ago, increasing +125% in the key demo 25-54 (295k vs. 131k), while MSNBC grew only +20% (159k vs. 133k) and Fox News was down by -2% (345k vs. 353k). In total viewers, CNN was up +67% (766k vs. 459k), MSNBC grew +16% (463k vs. 400k) and FNC decreased -4% (1.234m vs. 1.289m).

MORNING AND DAYSIDE:

CNN’s American Morning placed second for the month of March in both total viewers (473k) and the demo 25-54 (224k), with MSNBC’sMorning Joe slipping to 3rd in total viewers (445k) and dropping to 4th place in the demo (136k).

During dayside programming, CNN Newsroom topped MSNBC each hour (9am-5pm) in both the key demo 25-54 and among total viewers. At 12 noon, CNN Newsroom was #1, topping both Fox News and MSNBC in the demo with 254k vs. 238k/105k respectively. At 3 pm, CNN Newsroom also easily topped MSNBC’s Martin Bashir -- 262k vs. 89k in the key demo 25-54. In head-to-head comparisons with MSNBC’s daytime non-opinion programming CNN almost tripled MSNBC in the key demo (261k vs. 92k) and held a 123% advantage among total viewers (793k vs. 356k).

CUMULATIVE AUDIENCE:

CNN reached a cumulative audience of 114.6 million viewers in March, FNC lagged behind with 89.4 million and MSNBC averaged 84.8 million.